Setting precise specifications helps learners know what’s required to complete an activity successfully. Students have taught me some valuable lessons on how to do this well.
Execution Levels
Many of my courses involve open-ended project work. One student in my Experience Design Studio Course in Spring 2022 asked how “far” they had to take the project work until it was complete. It was a good question—some of the work we did in class was acceptable at a prototype level, while other work was expected to be fully completed at a professional level by the end of the semester. I added Execution Levels to my assignments that semester to share what level of work was expected. The following are all of the execution levels as they appear in Canvas LMS in my assignments. When creating an assignment, I delete all but the one execution level.
Execution Level
Shoot for completing this work at or beyond the level indicated below.
Full Development: Outcomes are designed with intended materials and dimensions and are ready for use.
Testable Prototype: Outcomes are ready to be tested, though format, materials, and dimensions may not be at the final level.
Final Candidate: Outcomes showcase a range of features, functionality, and characteristics in multiple ways so uninitiated audiences can understand the fully realized design’s benefits and how it will work.
Detailed Mockup: Outcomes are designed with enough detail so internal stakeholders can understand their character and operation and decide what steps to take next.
Refined Candidate: Outcomes are detailed enough to communicate their essential characteristics, functionalities, and logistical matters. Each item and element feels like it belongs to a unified effort ready for execution.
Promising Option: Outcomes are low fidelity—just enough to make them recognizable—but their character, feeling, and functionality are cohesive. It’s possible to evaluate the work to determine whether it is a viable direction or a new approach is warranted.
Exploratory Variations: Outcomes consist of successful and not-so-great parts ready to be reconfigured and combined for the next revision. Elements are in varying states of development, but the designer’s thought processes are apparent.
Publishable Report: The writing is ready for publication in a public forum. Research is suitable for delivery to a client or stakeholders for implementation.
Actionable Document: This document stands on its own and contains all the content internal teams need. Research inspires confidence and is sound because many sources support the claims. Internal teams can act upon the content in this document with confidence.
Review Copy: This document contains all relevant content to assert its claims so that initiated readers can understand its intent. The content is thorough enough for a reviewer to assess its claims’ validity and what revisions to make next.
Draft: This document contains all the necessary sections, though their content is not yet fully supported. Content is thorough enough to convince a reviewer if the claims have merit. The writer can use this document to guide where to improve clarity or expand research efforts.
Informed Hunches: This document contains enough detail to communicate the content’s ideas and operation, though these ideas are not yet fully supported. Some hunches and in-progress thinking are apparent. The writer can use this document to work out their thinking to find gaps.
Rough Outline: This document consists of many fragments that are the building blocks of a cohesive presentation. Much research is needed to support the assertions. The main idea is starting to emerge, though, at this point, the writer may discover that it needs to go in a different direction.
